Choose Not Life, But Instead To Live
by ChurchillSaidSo
Summary: A one-shot Chekov/OC which I might expand upon into an actual story sometime. Introducing Alida Madison, Beta communications officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise. When the Enterprise crew tries to prevent a caveman coming back to life, calamity occurs.


"Imagine it." Kirk said soberly to Dr. McCoy. They were standing together near the now empty container where, until a few minutes ago, a caveman from prehistory had been. "Returning life to the dead. Who could make that decision?"

"Sure as hell not me." McCoy said grumpily. "I just try to preserve it where there's some to save." He was singed and burnt, just like the rest of the deployed crew. This made him grumpy.

Nobody else said anything. Pavel's hair was smoking; Alida's was curly and her face black with soot; Scotty and Spock were the most hurt, sporting shiny red fingers, but Scotty was too used to this and Spock too disinterested in his own discomfort to complain. Gwen alone seemed unhurt, but she was fighting off a massive headache and leaning on McCoy for support, trembling.

"That's as far as humankind oughta go, I think." Kirk said sagely.

They were all quiet a minute, very somber. Trying to reason with the rogue Federation scientists responsible for trying to revive a Stone Age man had proved impossible.

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy had sent for backup- brute force had been required. First, two redshirts, Pavel, and Scotty had been beamed down. While the engineer and his prodigy friend worked frantically to stop the timer set to "thaw" the caveman, security, Kirk and company detained the scientists.

But they had proved hard to question. First of all, one of them only spoke a gibbering language nobody recognized. The other two refused to speak at all. At a dead end, McCoy had suggested, "What about my empath nurse and your Beta communications ensign?"

A quick message to the bridge. Uhura answered, having been left in charge, and dispatched the two girls quickly. They had arrived, connected hands to ground Gwen, and begun to question the scientists.

The stoic scientists' emotions answered for them, at merely a touch from the empathic alien nurse. But nothing conclusive turned up. Spock left to help Scotty and Pavel. Still nothing. The girls moved on. They questioned the mumbling scientist last, who turned out to be chanting in Norwegian.

Alida had jumped up from the man as if about to be electrocuted. "The decanter is going to explode!" she had screamed.

At once, time had slowed. Alida ran- Kirk yelled- Bones grabbed Gwen and the red shirts and started to usher them away.

Alida had grabbed Pavel and attracted the attention of the others just in time. Alida and Pavel got facefuls of debris- Spock and Scotty had been touching the attached machine when the decanter went off, but luckily the metal had only become scorchingly hot and hadn't blown.

Kirk and Bones had rushed to the scene only to be burned by falling flames, and left alone, her fingers brushing the forehead of the lead scientist, Gwen was overcome when the man became undone and started to scream wildly about godliness, about divinity, knowledge and truth.

McCoy yanked her away soon enough to prevent the girl absorbing enough emotion to emulate, but the combined interruption and intense mental break she'd been privy to had momentarily crippled her. She would not open her glowing eyes and, with a whimper, fell into the doctor's arms, nearly faint.

They regrouped, assessed their injuries, and shakily asked for the scientists to be beamed up and jailed, except for the Norwegian who was to be put in med bay for evaluation.

And now they were quiet, trying to collect themselves.

By the time a few minutes passed, Gwen was recovered enough to stand- but she was whimpering. Alida, looking like a severely electrocuted chimney sweep, murmured,

"Dr. McCoy, I can take her."

The doctor shuffled the girl over to her friend, where Gwen sighed in intense relief, resting her head on Alida's shoulder. Pavel came to Gwen's other side and slung her arm around his shoulders to support her better. The nurse looked better already.

At McCoy's frown, Alida explained, "It's because you're upset, sir. She's used to grounding with us."

McCoy 'humph'ed but nodded. He glanced around at them all. "How many am I taking back to med bay with me other than Nurse Sterling, Spock, and Mr. Scott?"

Nobody answered- miraculously, only a few of them had been caught in the cross fire. It was a lucky day.

"Not I, sir. I am fine." Pavel said in his usual chipper voice.

"Then why don't you stand here to be beamed up- can you hold Nurse Sterling, Chekov?" Kirk motioned for them all to separate to be beamed up. The group shuffled close together meekly.

"Of course, sir!" Pavel gently scooped up Gwenievere, at which motion she mumbled, "Sh, Pavel, I'm sleeping." Alida giggled half-heartedly.

As they lined up, one of the security men said to the other, "If you could meet anybody dead or alive, past or future, who would it be?"

"I don't know. Maybe Hitler. I would tell him to lay off politics and stick to painting. Maybe get in a good lay."

"That's enough, Blume." Kirk said, smiling. The security man quieted. Kirk checked them all over once more, and finished at Pavel and Alida again.

He clapped Pavel's shoulder fondly, gazing at the two of them. If not for the two of them they might all be much more hurt.

"Who would you wanna meet, Ensign?" He asked, his thumb on his communicator.

"Who would I wish to meet, past or future?" Pavel grinned. "I suppose I would like to meet the future mother of my children. And I would ask of her, 'How do you like vodka?'"

Of course it was difficult to tell, but it was a good guess Alida was blushing underneath all of her soot, because the smile she was shyly giving Pavel was nothing less than loving. He grinned back.

McCoy rolled his eyes, but Kirk smiled into his communicator.

"That's all of it, Lieutenant. Beam us up."


End file.
